Grading Topeka's Public High Schools on the Strength of their Narwhal Education Curricula

TOPEKA - UWT Distinguished Tenured Adjunct Professor of Narwhal Studies and Narwhal Research Institute Executive Director Geirfinnur Björnsson has completed an exhaustive study which ranks Topeka's three public high schools on the strength of their narwhal education curricula. Leading the pack was Highland Park High School, followed by Topeka West High School, and finally, Topeka High School.

﻿Study Highlights﻿﻿

A Narwhal Studies lecture at UWT

Overall, the Kansas College and Career Ready Standards for Science exhibit a disappointing lack of mandated instruction on narwhals

Students are also negatively affected by a low standard of creativity and technological innovation in these untaught lessons.

An astounding 0% of Topeka public high school students have seen a real life narwhal in its natural habitat

The lack of emphasis on narwhal education in Topeka public schools may be due, in part, to the city and state's being landlocked, but whatever the reason, Topeka's public students are at a severe disadvantage for college-level work on narwhal-related subjects

The Institute for Narwhal Research at UWT is impacted and its profile blemished given that our own community fails to emphasize this important topic

﻿Rankings﻿

1) Highland Park High School

While not particularly ahead of its counterparts in terms of formal narwhal education standards and instruction, the students of Highland Park High School scored (comparatively) impressively on the survey. After interviews with several students, it was determined that much of the credit for the school's solid showing was due to sophomore Billy Burrows and his unhealthy obsession with the legendary aquatic species. Burrows reportedly wears narwhal-related apparel on a regular basis and was the first person to post the now-viral "Narwhals" YouTube video on his social media accounts, hounding friends and strangers for weeks about whether or not they had seen it. The increased level of basic knowledge may also be influenced by a higher number of self-declared Redditors than at the other schools.

2) Topeka West High School

Topeka West students scored relatively well on basic knowledge and far ahead of their colleagues at Topeka High in detailed knowledge, though not as well as the top-ranked Highland Park. There is no explanation for these scores. If you can provide one, please contact us and list "RE: NARWHAL EDUCATION REPORT CARD" in the subject line.

3) Topeka High School

Principal Linda Wiley simply does not place an emphasis on narwhal education in the classroom. This lack of commitment is evident as Topeka finished last out of the city's high schools in the rankings, with disappointing survey results. One bright spot: despite their school's failure to provide adequate instruction on the subject, a respectable number of Topeka High Students had a basic awareness of narwhals' existence. Researchers were unable to determine whether connections with Mr. Burrows contributed to this.

Study Details

Schools were graded on a scale of 1 (severely lacking) to 5 (outstanding) in several subjects, including the following:Survey-based components:Basic Knowledge (i.e., knowing that narwhals are real animals and not made up)Detailed Knowledge (i.e., life cycle, diet, geographic distribution)Recognition of Species' Importance (i.e., that narwhals can be used to document climate change, keystone species status)Non-statistical components:Teaching Innovation(judgment of creativity and use of technology in teaching narwhal-related curriculum standards)Scores for all categories were then averaged for each school, which allowed for a ranking mechanism. Detailed category and final scores are as follows: